In that area, the ultra-rich enclave of Greenwich lies just 20
miles up the road from the crime-ridden, post-industrial city of
Bridgeport. Whereas Greenwich is dotted with mansions and country
clubs,
deserted factories and public-housing projects line the
streets of Bridgeport.

If Fairfield County were a country, it would be the 14th-most unequal spot
on the planet,
Bloomberg reported in 2011. Just 5% of Fairfield County
residents share almost 30% of the region's income, while the
bottom 20% share just 2.3%, according to the Business Insider
ranking.

As of 2012, Bridgeport's per capita
income was $19,743, with 23% of residents living below
the poverty line, according to the US
Census Bureau. By contrast, the per capita income for
Greenwich in 2012 was $83,270 — more than twice that of
Fairfield County ($37,807), and 7.1% of residents live below the
poverty line. The average Greenwich property sells for
$948,500,
whereas the average home in Bridgeport is worth $163,400.

Connecticut
abolished county governments in 1960, removing the
possibility that residents of poorer cities would ever benefit
from the wealth in more affluent cities. With no county
government to oversee the redistribution of wealth, the chances
of poorer cities like Bridgeport and Norwalk ever being
redeveloped are slim to none.

How Bridgeport Got So Poor In The First Place

Once a leading industrial city, Bridgeport suffered as the
manufacturing industry became increasingly obsolete in the 1970s
and '80s, replaced by the service industry in most cities.

Crime In The Most Unequal Place In America

While one in 28 residents of Bridgeport will be a victim of a
crime, one in 168 people will become a victim fewer than 20 miles
away in Greenwich, according to Neighborhood
Scout. While Greenwich is safer than 90% of US
cities, earlier this year the FBI listed Bridgeport as
the sixth-most crime-ridden city in the US,
WFSB reported.

The nature of each city's crimes is very different. While crime
in Greenwich usually consists of white-collar crime
like embezzlement or investment
fraud, Bridgeport's crimes tend to be much more violent: the
rate of murder, rape, robbery, and assault in Bridgeport is 9.5
per 1,000 inhabitants, more than 50
times that of Greenwich (.19 per 1,000 inhabitants),
according to an
FBI crime report.